Category: Newsletters

Secrets from Sicily

Gennaro Contaldo

Gennaro Contaldo, is basically the old Italian grandpa that everyone wishes the had. If you’re looking for a quick but authentic spaghetti be sure to watch this short video. He tends to keep things simple enough for even the most novice of Italian chefs which tends to lend well to those of us on the go. Check out the rest of his channel for some more challenging meals to try out.

Tastemade’s Frankie Celenza

For some quick fun facts, a laugh and a good recipes be sure to follow Frankie Celenza on Twitter and watch him on Tastemade’s story on Snapchat Discover. Tastemade recently launched their own app where you can find authentic recipes from a variety of chefs. Frankie regularly lets slip some of the best kept secrets of Italy. Watch this video for tips on cooking polenta for a big crowd!

Proud Italian Cook

An at home chef in Chicago, Proud Italian Cook runs her own blog where she regularly posts her latest recipes. Her Instagram page showcases her various dishes from day to day life and upcoming projects. Her sauce recipes are perfect for beginners and will taste like an expert made them.

A photo posted by Marie (@prouditaliancook) on Jan 29, 2017 at 10:52am PST

Bon Appetit

Be sure to read up on this interview from Bon Appetit magazine with Giada De Laurentiis. She answers a few questions about her home pantry and a few tips and tricks to use in the kitchen. Her tip for sauce is one of our favorites!

Recipe of the Week: Bolognese Sauce

In honor of this weeks saucy update, here’s one of our favorite recipes from Allrecipes. Bolognese sauce is a meat based sauce that great over spaghetti or penne, really whatever type of pasta you prefer.

Secrets from Sicily is a weekly newsletter curated for those who would like to begin cooking Italian food and for those on the look out for quick and easy recipes with the occasional expert recipe.

Given that the Caribbean comprises of a population with roots across Africa, Asia, Europe and pretty much all over the world, its food is a unique blend of flavors unlike any other.

Here is what any foodie needs to know about Caribbean cuisine:

Top 10 Caribbean foods

There is such a wide variety of food in the Caribbean, it may be difficult to decide which dishes to try. From goat stew to callaloo and seafood, how can one possibly choose? Here is a list of the top 10 must tries from BBC Good Food.

Roasted breadfruit in stewed saltfish tutorial

In commemoration of Black History Month, here is Trinidadian chef and food blogger Chris De La Rosa with a tutorial on how to prepare a dish with African roots: roasted breadfruit in stewed saltfish.

Dhal and roti

You cannot visit the Caribbean and not try dhal and roti. Brought to the Caribbean, specifically Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago, by East Indian immigrants, dhal is a soup like dish made from yellow split peas and a special blend of herb and spices, while roti is a flat bread. Paired together, dhal and roti is perfect for breakfast, dinner or any time of the day!

A photo posted by The Original Bubblin' Star ? (@chefjasonperu) on Jan 25, 2017 at 4:29am PST

Fried ripe plantains

Plantains are a staple in almost every part of the Caribbean. Whether green or ripe, boiled, fried or both, plantains pair well with any meal. There is no doubt, though, that fried ripe plantains are a cult favorite. From chef Chris De La Rosa and Caribbean Pot, here is a twist on the classic fried ripe plantains: panko crusted fried plantains.

Classic fried ripe plantains. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Caribbean food in Athens

I bet you are hungry for some Caribbean food by now. Who said dreams don’t come through? If you are in the Athens area, check out Mauvette’s for some authentic Caribbean cuisine. Mauvette is a Jamaican native who resides in Athens, Ohio. She caters authentic Caribbean food for parties, socials, and other events.

Tempt Your Tastebuds is a weekly newsletter bringing you everything you need to know about cuisine from different parts of the world. If you are a foodie, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss anything!

Rise and shine runners! Here’s what you need to know to get your day started on the right foot (pun intended):

Bad Ass of the Day: Alyson Felix

Felix is an Olympic medalist who competes in the 100 m, 200 m and 400 m. She also models for Nike women’s track and field line AND works alongside ACTS College Summit, a program that encourages high school juniors and seniors to work towards their goals.

Nike just released their new LunarEpic low flyknit, a shoe that is designed to fit like a comfortable sock. It’s light weight, but offers ample support for your longer runs. The foam at the heel absorbs impact and helps you achieve the desired ‘heel-to-toe’ running motion. Plus, it comes in tons of cute colors AND gives you the option to design your own. What more can a girl want?

For those of us who need an extra push to make it to the gym (or trail) today…

Recipe of the Day

Check out these ‘piña colada’ stove top oats- easy, filling, and restoring after a long morning run. Don’t have all the toppings pictured below? Not a problem. You can substitute any fruit for the bananas, and regular peanut butter works in place of the almond butter. To keep it super simple, just sprinkle some granola on top and enjoy!

Though you may love running, forcing yourself to hit the trails seven days a week is dangerous and damaging. Your body needs time to recover (at least a day) and restore to help build muscle. Even better, try taking 2 days off and using one of them to tackle a new workout. Don’t be concerned about burning the calories or staying in shape- with the right type of exercise, this won’t be a problem.

Run, rest, repeat is a daily newsletter providing you with content related to women’s running and fitness. We are constantly researching the latest trends and tips in women’s running to keep our readers fit and healthy. Subscribe to receive our newsletter in your inbox every morning!

The SRT demon will be making appearances at 2017 auto shows across the country. This will be an enthusiasts car, essentially a barely-legal, stripped out, more powerful version of the Challenger SRT Hellcat.

The SRT Demon will hit show room floors in 2018, prices are not available for the vehicle yet.

Although specific power figures were not yet announced, the Demon will certainly be the most powerful production muscle car by a wide margin.

Photo Credits: Wikipedia

3. Toyota wins their first WRC race since they last competed in 1999

It only took Toyota’s racing team two events to win their first World Rally Championship race since they last competed in any rally event in 1999.

Former Volkswagen driver Jari-Matti Latvala won the rally for Toyota in the WRC Yaris by nearly thirty seconds over the second place driver.

In two rallies since their return, Toyota has had an incredible start, winning a race and already putting themselves in first place for points standings.

Photo Credits: YouTube

4. 2017 Chicago Auto Show kicks off

February 11-20 Chicago Illinois will host the 2017 auto show at McCormick Place, the largest convention center in North America.

There were few new models were announced this year, but there were a myriad of special edition vehicles released with unique paint colors, wheels, and badging.

More information can be found and tickets can be purchased on their website. Adult tickets are $13, seniors ages 62 and over and children ages 7-12 are $7, and children ages 0 to 6 get in free.

5. Matt Farah finally drives the Porsche 991 GT3 RS

Many enthusiasts have been waiting to hear Matt Farah’s opinion from the Smoking Tire on the new Porsche 991 GT3 RS.

Matt loved the car, praising it for its incredible exhaust sound, wide power band, and steering feel through corners. However, for the money he recommends the Ferrari 488 GTB even though it costs an extra $35,000.

Matt thinks the Porsche’s PDK gearbox is still the best in the world and if you can get one of these for a good price you should pick it up.

LorsAutoWeekly is the weekly one stop newsletter for the biggest headlines in the car world. We focus on all things automotive including modified cars, new cars, car technologies, F1, WRC, car culture, and more. We get all the big stories about your passion and put it in one easy to digest place.

I have always found it difficult to lock down a good source for accurate movie reviews. People are so opinionated about film that it will always be difficult to generate a rating that everyone can agree with.

Best you can do is trust your gut and get a little help on the side. So I’m going to conduct a little test here by comparing the ratings of the same movie given by five different websites.

Now this movie has all the makings of a sports classic, civil rights, baseball, underdog roles, overcoming adversity, Harrison Ford. On paper this movie looks like 10/10, of course that didn’t stop it from being garbage. So let’s see what the internet has to say about the Jackie Robinson story, 42.

With Metacritic you start to get a lot more specific reviews from reputable writers, which you can look up straight from the site. What I really like is they limit the size of their review pool from whom it believes to be a reputable critic.

Critics give their decision making behind the reviews as well. A common theme among this movies ratings is the critics liked the story. It’s hard to give Jackie Robinson a crappy rating, here the critics get a chance to explain that.

For the record Metacritic does reviews for literally everything on the face of the earth so check it out. It only has 45k followers on Twitter, but don’t let that sway you, it’s a good site to agree/disagree with.

The Movie Review Query Engine or MrQE (pronounced marquee) takes a similar approach to their ratings as Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, but they force your eye towards long form reviews done by great newspapers.

If you really want to get into the nitty gritty details of what makes any film good/atrocious, is is your site.

MrQE has actually been around since 1993, which is now surprising you because you’ve never heard of MrQE, but their trusted list of critics is what sets them apart from the other sites I’m comparing.

The International Movie Database is the first place you’ll want to look for a full list of cast and crew, but I’ve never loved its rating services.

It just throws a number like 7.5/10 at you and tells you it’s coming from 63,000 people. It’s 63,000 random people who have seen the movie, and that 7.5 is pretty reflective of all the other scores I’ve compared.

I don’t dislike IMDB for its lack of accuracy but instead for its ambiguity. There aren’t 2,000 good movie critics in the world let alone 63,000, but me and the 3 million people following them on Twitter will still use it nonetheless.

805 thousand people follow the guy on Twitter. One opinion that reaches that many people, which is what makes his influence even comparable to Metacritic, IMDb, or Rotten Tomatoes.

It’s easy to get lost in the pot with 60,000 plus people screaming their opinions at you. Robert Epert takes you away from that by providing the opinion of just one dude, leaving you to agree/disagree.

I’m not really sure if Epert uses a five star system or a four star. I’ve never seen anything with more than four stars but I like to think he’s just saving the fifth star for something truly spectacular. Thankfully it wasn’t Spike Lee.

The idea behind this newsletter is to help expose people to the highly subjective world of movie critiques. It’s hard not to be opinionated when it comes to movies. It’s not my job to make an opinion for you, but to help you find the resources to make one for yourself.